Zambia

The BALANCED Project provides technical assistance to conservation and health organizations interested in integrating health services and information into existing resource management activities. In response to requests from the World Conservation Society (WCS), BALANCED Project staff has provided training and technical assistance to WCS programs in Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, from 2009 to present.

In the spring of 2011, World Conservation Society (WCS) Zambia and its Commodity Markets for Conservation (COMACO) project began to integrate family planning services into its existing livelihood and conservation program. Recognizing the importance of communities having a year round supply of food, the COMACO project provides sustainable sources of alternative incomes and incentives for conservation to families living around national parks in the eastern Luangwa Valley. For the past year, WCS Zambia has been promoting health and family planning messages about the links between markets, sustainable production practices, family health and planning and improved conservation. Following on these awareness raising activities, the BALANCED Project awarded WCS Zambia a “seed grant” for family planning activities. Over the next two years, the COMACO Program will improve access and use of family planning methods and services in the Mfuwe, Lundazi and Chama regions over the next two years.